Rosie Sorenson
If You’d Only Listen
July 10, 2025
4 PM PDT | 5 PM MDT | 6 PM CDT | 7 PM EDT
Sign Up Here

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO SAVE THE LIFE OF SOMEONE YOU LOVED?
When my husband Steve and I set out on the daunting journey for his life-saving liver transplant, we had no idea we were stepping into a medical labyrinth where the stakes were nothing short of life and death. Several years before, Steve had been diagnosed with “non-alcoholic, cryptogenic, end-stage liver disease.”

Awarded the 2024 Zibby Book Award for Best Story of Overcoming, and the 2025 American Legacy Books Award in Health, my memoir is more than a personal account—it’s a rallying cry for patient advocacy and a wake-up call about the dangers of preventable medical errors.

According to research from Johns Hopkins and Harvard, 371,000 patients die every year in the U.S. due to preventable medical mistakes, with another 424,000 left with ongoing disabilities. Steve and I, like so many families, were unaware of these staggering statistics when we left California for another state, desperate for a transplant after facing an impossibly long waiting list at home.

Shockingly, I had to intervene several times during Steve’s hospitalization to save his life! I wrote the book so that others could avoid the medical hell we suffered. The memoir’s impact extends beyond storytelling. The Addendum provides a deep dive into the realities of medical error, the influence of private equity in healthcare, and the pervasive issue of racial bias. It also offers practical recommendations for families on how to be an effective advocate and how to keep a loved one safe in the hospital.

If You’d Only Listen is not just a memoir—it’s a survival guide for anyone who may one day find themselves fighting for a loved one’s life. It reminds us that with courage, resilience and unwavering love, even in the darkest hours, ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference.

What the book is about:  How one woman summoned the strength—that not even she knew she had—to save her husband’s life in a medical system that wasn’t listening to her.

What attendees will learn from the presentation:

• Main takeaway: You are more fierce than you know. Your ferocity will propel your success with your book. I will share some of my lessons.
• Options for publishing—my choices and why.
• What I learned about publishing a book–there is a lot to know!
• The challenges, and satisfaction, of self-publishing.
• The emotional journey of writing and publishing a memoir. Be prepared—and more.

Bio
Rosie Sorenson, MA, MFT, is a former healthcare administrator and psychotherapist. Rosie’s work has appeared in the Literary Medical Messenger, the Los Angeles Times, Mobius, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and others.

Her essays appear in popular anthologies, including the Magic of Memoir, Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned From My Cat. She also authored the award-winning: They Had Me at Meow: Tales of Love from the Homeless Cats of Buster Hollow.  She has been writing political satire for The Progressive Populist for the past six years. Prior to that she wrote a humor column for The Foolish Times for ten years. 

Awards:

• Lee Child, Judge for the Black Spring Prize for Best Openings to a Crime Book, chose Rosie’s story to include in Crime Bits: 100 Opening Gambits for Great Thrillers.
• The San Francisco Writers Conference 2023 Writing Contest: Finalist for the Introduction to her new memoir: If You’d Only Listen.
• The Joyce Turley Scholarship from the 2020 San Francisco Writers Conference.
• The Listener Favorite Award from the popular San Francisco NPR affiliate in its “Perspectives” series.

Rosie lives with her Sweetheart Steve in Northern California and their beloved cat, Billy.

Website: www.RosieSorenson.com 
Book site: If You’d Only Listen: A Medical Memoir of Gaslighting, Grit & Grace